Forever 21 is being accused, once again, of design theft, this time by a brand whose designs look *questionably* similar to someone else's.
Hot Girls Eating Pizza, a brand popular on Instagram that celebrates "cool girls & hot pizza," is calling out the fast-fashion retailer for copying its "I Feel Like Pizza" shirt, which is a "parody" of Kanye West's "I Feel Like Pablo" merch T-shirt, according to Hot Girls Eating Pizza founder, Marta Freedman.
Here's the "original" Hot Girls Eating Pizza shirt:
And here's Forever 21's version:
And finally, the OG Yeezy version:
Freedman told Nylon her T-shirt design is justifiable as it "was made as a nod to Kanye," while "Forever 21's shirt was made to make money."
"I’m not the first to parody Kanye’s Pablo shirts, but I did move forward after learning Kanye was in approval of 17-year-old Austin Butts making DIY reproductions earlier this year," Freedman explained. "I thought of designers and brands I really admire that are known for their parody designs—like Brian Lichtenberg and UNIF."
She continued, "I thought about what would happen if Forever 21 copied Vetememes or a UNIF tee—those smaller brands would definitely think it’s an issue."
Despite her frustrations, Freedman doesn't plan on pursuing legal action as she "doesn't think there's anything she can do," according to Nylon. She does, however, want to make consumers aware that "this is not okay." So far, Forever 21 or Kanye West have yet to say anything about the situation.
As we said earlier, this isn't the first time Forever 21 has been accused of ripping off indie designers — its most recent controversy involved Bow & Drape who says the retailer blantantly ripped off its "Hangry" sweatshirt. And as Refinery29 notes, Forever 21 has previously sold a shirt that bared a striking resemblance to another Kanye West merch tee, however, it featured the text "Simon de Cyrene for the World" instead of the lyrics to "Ultra Light Beam."
Seriously, can we all just stop copying or "taking inspiration" from each other and come up with our own ideas?
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